The present invention relates generally to inkjet printheads, and more particularly to an electrical interconnect for a printhead assembly.
A conventional inkjet printing system, as one embodiment of a fluid ejection system, includes a printhead, an ink supply which supplies liquid ink to the printhead, and an electronic controller which controls the printhead. The printhead, as one embodiment of a fluid ejection device, ejects ink drops through a plurality of orifices or nozzles and toward a print medium, such as a sheet of paper, so as to print onto the print medium. Typically, the orifices are arranged in one or more arrays such that properly sequenced ejection of ink from the orifices causes characters or other images to be printed upon the print medium as the printhead and the print medium are moved relative to each other.
In one arrangement, commonly referred to as a wide-array inkjet printing system, a plurality of individual printheads, also referred to as printhead dies, are mounted on a single substrate or carrier. As such, a number of nozzles and, therefore, an overall number of ink drops which can be ejected per second is increased. Since the overall number of drops which can be ejected per second is increased, printing speed can be increased with the wide-array inkjet printing system. Mounting a plurality of printhead dies on a single carrier, however, requires communication of a plurality of power, ground, and data signals between the electronic controller and the printhead dies.
Accordingly, it is desirable for an electrical interconnect which facilitates communication of electrical signals between an electronic controller and a printhead assembly including a plurality of printhead dies mounted on a single carrier.
One aspect of the present invention provides an electrical interconnect. The electrical interconnect includes an interconnect housing including a side and a face contiguous with the side, a plurality of electrical contacts each supported by the interconnect housing and including a first end and a second end, and an electrical circuit positioned adjacent the side of the interconnect housing, wherein the first end of each of the electrical contacts extends from the side of the interconnect housing and is electrically coupled to the electrical circuit, and the second end of each of the electrical contacts protrudes from the face of the interconnect housing and provides an electrical contact point.